This invention relates to a clothes pressing method and apparatus for pressing clothes such as a dress shirt placed on a body block by blasting hot air (a hot blast) into the entire of a body portion, including side portions and a shoulder portion, as well as sleeve portions.
The conventional clothes pressing apparatus of this kind generally comprises an air supply means of a single system composed of a single air supply source (blower) and a single air conduit system for shunting and supplying air into different positions of the clothes. In a clothes pressing apparatus proposed by the same assignee of this application in a Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-96093, paragraph 0019 of the specification, in particular, air supplying means having only one system supplies air blasts to both of the body portion and the sleeve portions of the clothes.
However, the following inconvenience has been experienced with the clothes pressing apparatus that employs a single common air supply system for the body portion and the sleeve portions of the clothes.
That is, an air bag that suitably inflates when air is introduced is provided in the body portion, either in the entire body portion or in some portion of the body portion such as shoulder or side portions, and the respective portions are expanded by the inflated air bag from inside to be press-finished. As for the sleeve portions, however, they are lightly pulled to be stretched to their lengths and air is blasted into the sleeves from the shoulder openings of the body with the sleeves (cuffs) closed so that the cylindrical sleeve portions are directly inflated and pressed by the blasted air without using air bags.
Thus, the body portion of the clothes, such as a dress shirt or the like, is pressed by means of the inflated air bag, but the sleeve portions, which are formed by a relatively thin clothes material, are pressed by the air directly blasted into the sleeve portions. Therefore, the press conditions, such as air supply pressure, supply amount, supply time period, supply temperature or the like, cannot be separately optimized for the body portion and the sleeve portions of the clothes with the conventional pressing apparatus employing a common single air supply system. Therefore it was very difficult that the body portion and the sleeve portions be pressed to the satisfactory conditions.
On the other hand, if the pressing operations suitable for the body portion and the sleeve portions, respectively, are desired to be achieved with the air supply apparatus of a single air supply system, the pressing operations of different pressing conditions must be carried out in succession, resulting in an elongated pressing operation and decrease in productivity.